The Umbrella Academy Season 2: 10 Things That Must Happen
The comics only get weirder from here on out; hopefully Netflix will do the same.
Season 1 of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy took the world by storm, becoming an early front runner for the best new TV show of 2019. Recently Netflix confirmed that the show would, as expected, be returning for a second season, and fans are already full of ideas as to what that should be.
The first season largely followed the first instalment of Gerard Way’s comic, entitled The Apocalypse Suite, but also borrowed slightly from volume two (Dallas) by focussing on Klaus in Vietnam. It’s looking like Season 2 will therefore revolve more around the Dallas storyline, but involve some of volume three’s Hotel Oblivion, as well as adding some new flavour of its own.
We’ll see more character development, some new locations, and the resolution of the finale, The White Violin. However, obvious things like ‘what happens next’ have been left out here, because it’s clear that those things will follow next year.
Instead, it’s the finer details of the plot and character arcs that we’re looking at here. Either by building off what was established in Season 1 or by using the better parts of the Dallas storyline, these are the things that must happen in Season 2.
10. JFK’s Assassination
There was a little nod to it in Season 1, but the JFK assassination is actually a fundamental building block of The Umbrella Academy.
While some parts of the adaptation have already been changed (the original comic Academy were all white, Number Five wasn’t injected with serial killer DNA, Diego had no love interest or great affection for his mother...), it seems impossible to continue this story without some focus on JFK. That goes double if they do indeed follow the Dallas storyline.
Number Five was stood on the infamous grassy knoll when he leapt back to the Academy, and as a result does not go through with the assassination as planned. However, the Dallas storyline has the JFK assassination at its centre, much like the impending apocalypse was at the heart of Season 1/The Apocalypse Suite.
It will be fascinating to see how they take this on in these politically charged times. From the murder of Jo Cox in Britain to the MAGA bomber in the USA, political rhetoric, divisive politics and threats of violence are possibly as high as they have been since the Cold War. The pieces are all there for in depth social commentary.